Our venerable father '''Herman of Alaska''' (1756 - [[December 13]], 1837) was an 18th century missionary to Alaska. He, in 1970, became the first [[saint]] to be [[Glorification|glorified]] by the [[Orthodox Church in America]], concurrent with parallel services in another location by the [[Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia]]. St. Herman is remembered by the Church on [[August 9]] and [[December 13]].

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Our venerable father '''Herman of Alaska''' (1756 - [[December 13]], 1837) was an 18th century missionary to [[Alaska]]. He, in 1970, became the first [[saint]] to be [[Glorification|glorified]] by the [[Orthodox Church in America]], concurrent with parallel services in another location by the [[Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia]]. St. Herman is remembered by the Church on [[August 9]] and [[December 13]].

==Life==

==Life==

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* [http://www.angelfire.com/nv2/carthusian/Akathist/herman.html St. Herman of Alaska] Life and [[Akathist]]

* [http://www.angelfire.com/nv2/carthusian/Akathist/herman.html St. Herman of Alaska] Life and [[Akathist]]

* [http://dioceseofalaska.org/pdf/liturgical/StHermanAkathist-FullPage.pdf The Akathist Hymn to St. Herman of Alaska] (PDF)

* [http://dioceseofalaska.org/pdf/liturgical/StHermanAkathist-FullPage.pdf The Akathist Hymn to St. Herman of Alaska] (PDF)

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* [http://www.asna.ca/alaska/research/zhizn.pdf Life of Monk Herman of Valaam, American Missionary (Russian, 1894)] (PDF)

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* [http://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/english/herman.htm Life of Monk Herman of Valaam, American Missionary (English translation of above, 1997)]

Contents

Life

Herman of Alaska was a Russian Orthodox monk from Valaam Monastery in Russia who traveled with eight other monks in 1793 to bring the Gospel to the native Aleuts and Eskimos in the Aleutian Islands. As part of the Russian colonization of the Americas, Russians had been exploring and trading there since at least 1740. Thus, he marks the first arrival of Orthodox Christian missionaries in North America. He built a school for the Aleutians, and he often defended them from the injustices and exploitation of the Russian traders. He was known to them as Apa which means "Grandfather." He lived most of his life as the sole resident of Spruce Island, a tiny wooded island near Kodiak Island.